Stopping cat from opening corner sliding doors

Question

In my bedroom, I have a pair of wooden corner sliding doors, pictured below:

My cat is banned from entering the bedroom when we're sleeping here, since she keeps waking us up. However, actually implementing the ban is hard, because she learned how to open the doors. As a temporary measure, I'm tying together the handles (both of the doors have one inside), but I'm looking for a more permanent solution.

The solution doesn't need to actually lock the door, it's good as long as the cat (~4.5 kg) can't just use her body weight to open it. It's important however, for the solution to be able to be locked/unlocked from both inside and outside (for inside-only solutions, I found latches, so if there's nothing better, I'll probably settle for it), since me and my wife usually go to sleep at different times, so one person should be able to lock it inside, and the other should be able to then open the door from outside.

Adding more pictures per request. Closed: The cat pushes on one of the doors, and here's the result:

Answer 1

I'd just stick a pair of magnets on the end of one sliding door, with corresponding steel plates for the magnets to stick to on the other sliding door. One on top, and one on the bottom.

Magnet strength should be such that you can open the door, but the cat cannot.

It's the best option for fire safety too, or if you're just in a hurry, because there's no latch to open in an emergency. However it will make a "clap" noise when the doors latch close, which may be a problem for night-time bathroom breaks.

However the cat will wake you up by mewling until you give up and open it yourself ;)

Answer 2

The doors appear to be meeting at the inside corners when closed, as shown in this crude ascii art:

 ___|_|
 ___|

Will one door go past the inside corner to fully cover the end of the other door, as in one of these:

 ___| |
 ___|_|

 ___|_|
 _____|

If so, you could use a standard pocket door latch that engages the door against the opposite jamb with a hook into a plate in the jamb. Use the covering door as the 'jamb' for the other door. Mount the 'jamb' hardware in the covering door, and the latch hardware in the covered door.

Answer 3

The simple solution is to get rid of the cat. However, for reasons that are totally beyond my ability to comprehend, people just don't seem to be willing to accept that solution.

An alternate possibility would be to affix a roller contraption to the top of the railing. When the cat jumps up there, she won't be able to find a solid purchase and will fall off. Since she seems to be smart enough to know that she won't be let in by incessant meowing, she should quickly figure out that she won't be able to balance up there after a few tries and will quit trying. If she's not on the railing, she can't open the door and the problem is solved.

The rollers may not be the prettiest thing in the world, but once she's been trained to not jump up there, she probably won't jump again even with the rollers gone.

Design of the roller contraption is left as an exercise for the reader. Possibly involving a new question.